Babington Business College Limited - GOV.UK

Babington Business College Limited
Interim visit report

  Unique reference number:   50586

  Name of lead inspector:    Russ Henry, Her Majesty’s Inspector

  Visit date(s):             17–18 November 2020

  Type of provider:          Independent learning provider

  Address:                   1st Floor
                             100 Broad Street
                             Birmingham
                             B15 1AE

Interim visit
Context and focus of visit

On 17 March 2020, all routine inspections were suspended due to the COVID-19
(coronavirus) pandemic. As part of our phased return to routine inspections, we are
carrying out ‘interim visits’ to further education and skills providers. Interim visits are
to help learners, parents, employers and government understand how providers are
meeting the needs of learners in this period, including those with high needs and
those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

We intend to return to routine inspection in January 2021 but will keep the exact
timing under review.

The focus of these visits is on the themes set out below and the findings are based
on discussions with leaders, managers, staff and learners.

Following changes to government guidance and the imposition of COVID-19
lockdown restrictions, we made this visit remotely to reduce pressure on the
provider.

Information about the provider

Babington Business College holds national contracts for apprenticeships, traineeships
and adult skills. Babington’s head office is in Birmingham, with local learning centres
in Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, Milton Keynes,
Nottingham, Sheffield and Stoke-on-Trent. Learners are located throughout the
country. With the exception of employability and traineeship programmes, most
study is undertaken in the workplace. At the time of the visit, Babington was
providing training to around 3,500 apprentices, over 1,000 adult learners and almost
200 trainees. Most apprentices work in accountancy, administration and
management roles. Most adult learners were learning employability skills.

What actions are leaders taking to ensure that they provide an appropriate
curriculum that responds to the reasonable needs of learners and
stakeholders and adapts to changed circumstances?

Managers quickly moved courses online following the imposition of COVID-19
restrictions in March. The apprenticeship subjects they offer lend themselves readily
to remote teaching. Many programmes already incorporated some online learning
and managers had planned to increase this. Courses for adults presented a greater
challenge as they had previously been taught entirely in classrooms and used printed
materials. Managers deployed a team of staff to redevelop these courses, which
were launched online within three weeks of the start of restrictions.

Interim visit: Babington Business College Limited, 17–18 November 2020
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Managers worked flexibly to ensure that apprentices, whose daily work was
disrupted by COVID-19 restrictions, could continue to meet the requirements of their
courses. They worked with employers to ensure that furloughed apprentices
continued to have access to the information technology systems that they needed for
their studies. They made changes to the sequence of topics so that apprentices who
were working on unexpected tasks were supported to learn from them.

Where adult learners did not have access to the technology they needed to complete
their studies online, managers provided laptops and tablets for them to use and
changed the format of study materials so that they could be accessed on a wider
range of devices. Managers adjusted the role of technical support staff so that as
well as of supporting staff, they provided a service for learners and employers.

Subcontractor managers adjusted the curriculum of traineeship programmes because
trainees were unable to secure work placements during COVID-19 restrictions.
Managers added extra training during the summer and moved work placements to
September. All current trainees have a work placement.

Because of managers’ actions, few learners and apprentices have suffered disruption
to their studies. Where they have, for example because they have not been able to
devote as much time to studying, managers have arranged additional training and
support.

What steps are leaders, managers and staff taking to ensure that the
approaches used for building knowledge and skills are appropriate to meet
the reasonable needs of learners?

In discussion with employers, managers decided that live online lessons for
apprentices should be shorter but more frequent than previous face-to-face
workshops. They supported staff to condense teaching without losing important
content and encouraged them to make online learning as active as possible.
Apprentices report that lessons are interactive, involve all participants and are
managed really well by specialist trainers.

Prior to COVID-19 restrictions, apprenticeship staff had often taught remotely.
Consequently, managers focused training and support on employability tutors whose
teaching had previously been entirely in the classroom. They provided training in the
use of webinars, videoconferencing and online assessment.

Staff work flexibly to support apprentices. Where apprentices are made redundant,
staff help them to complete their studies. Where work patterns change, staff adjust
teaching patterns.

Staff make use of a range of tools to check that learners and apprentices have
understood topics and completed tasks. Managers can obtain detailed reports from
the electronic portfolio system and intervene when learners are not participating as
well as they ought.
Interim visit: Babington Business College Limited, 17–18 November 2020
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Attendance and participation have remained high. Specialist trainers report that the
flexibility they have provided and the shortening of lessons have contributed to this.
Their teaching has been supported by skills coaches and learner coordinators who
have made frequent contact with learners and provided support and encouragement.

Qualified staff offer careers guidance across all programmes. Those apprentices that
have been made redundant benefit from sessions on letter and curriculum vitae
writing, and interview techniques, including those useful for online interviews.

Members of the quality assurance team observe live online lessons and provide staff
with developmental feedback. Managers report that visiting lessons is much easier
when they are taught online. Managers review the planning of courses through
scrutiny of documents such as schemes of work. They hold weekly meetings to help
staff to share good practice.

How are leaders ensuring that learners are safe and well informed about
potential risks, including from online sources?

Leaders and managers recognise that the nature of safeguarding risks has changed
during the pandemic and have adapted their policies to meet new challenges. They
identify online grooming, online radicalisation and mental ill-health as heightened
risks. The designated safeguarding lead has undertaken a variety of training on these
and other subjects and liaises with a range of external agencies to help keep learners
safe. She shares her knowledge with other staff, including through a monthly
newsletter.

Learners and employers receive a safeguarding booklet at the start of their
programmes. Managers have developed and distributed a further booklet on online
safety.

Managers have implemented several communication mechanisms that allow learners
to alert staff if they have concerns. These include hand signals, text messaging and a
concern form that raises an alert even if it is not completed. The safeguarding
team also has an online system for tracking safeguarding matters to ensure that all
relevant staff are made aware of any concerns.

Interim visit: Babington Business College Limited, 17–18 November 2020
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The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted)
regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young
people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and
inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family
Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher
training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education
and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council
children's services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding
and child protection.

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print
or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk.

This publication is available at http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/.

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Interim visit: Babington Business College Limited, 17–18 November 2020
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